Resources Library

Latest News & Research: 12 September 2017

This week: how workouts affect male and female clients’ eating habits; lack of satiety signalling in obese individuals’ guts; and how an extra 21 minutes physical activity can help the sedentary masses… + more.

A new study has found that exercise may cause males to change their eating habits, while not influencing the food choices of females. A rodent study by scientists from the University of Missouri in Columbia found that when placed on an exercise regimen, male rats switched their previous penchant for high-fat foods to a preference for a high-sucrose and high-cornstarch diet. The exercising females, however, continued to choose high fat foods.

Obese people’s guts lack communication skills

Research has found that obese people may eat more because their bodies do not communicate the message that ‘I’m full now’. It’s easy to dismiss overeating as a lack of self-control, but more research appears to be pointing to the role of metabolic factors in obesity.

A Swiss team’s analysis of gastrointestinal tissue from morbidly obese individuals has shown that they possess significantly fewerenteroendocrine cells than in tissue from lean individuals. These are the cells that indicate satiety to the brain, so fewer of them may lead to a reduced ‘fullness’ response and increased eating.

No Sit! It’s bad for us all, especially seniors, but just 21 minutes less could help

When data from over 500,000 individuals aged over 50 was analysed, it was discovered those who watched five or more hours of TV daily were 65% more likely to have difficulty walking, or inability to walk, 10 years on, compared to those who watched two or less hours.

Do you offer special programs for older members in your community? Whether you’re a PT or a club operator, you could be doing your community (and by association your business) a great service by catering to this demographic – helping them stay active, and stay mobile.

Low back pain? You’re imagining it

A team from the University of South Australia used tests to objectively measure stiffness in the spines of 15 study participants who had self-reported feelings of chronic lower back pain, and then compared the results with the perceived levels of stiffness of these individuals.

Lead study author Dr Tasha Stanton said ‘In theory people who feel back stiffness should have a stiffer spine than those who do not. We found this was not the case in reality. Instead, we found that that the amount they protected their back was a better predictor of how stiff their back felt.’

Kids gym franchise sets sights on 150 locations

CEO of MyFirstGym, Dan Newton, said that the franchise launch was in response to growing rates of inactivity and obesity among Australia’s children, and described initial interest in the franchise as ‘overwhelming’.

Stacey Aldous named AUSTSWIM WETS Instructor™ of the Year

Her passion for promoting the benefits of physical activity in an aquatic environment has seen Hobart’s Stacey Aldous named the recipient of the 2016 National AUSTSWIM WETS Instructor Award.

AUSTSWIM CEO Jennifer Schembri-Portelli said the award was one of the eight premier awards presented to individuals or organisations across Australia that achieve the highest standards of aquatic education excellence.

‘The time, effort and research Stacey has placed into aqua is monumental. She ‘hounded’ the WETS course providers to make sure Tasmania received the same aquatic training as the ‘mainland’. She participated in the WETS aqua course, worked tirelessly to train as an AUSTSWIM WETS presenter and contributes to the written and online resources.’